Schools

Megan V. WInslow/Town Crier Los Altos High School chemistry teacher Danielle Paige, left, demonstrates for students how to pickle cucumbers and carrots, above, with equipment she received from her MVLA Foundation grant money.

The Mountain View-Los Altos High School Foundation is on a mission to encourage innovation in the classroom by awarding $75,000 in grants to individual teacher projects.

The foundation last month awarded 21 Innovative Learning Grants, ranging from $500 to $5,000, to teachers and teaching teams.

• The project’s effectiveness in challenging students to make connections and discover alternative problem solving.

“These grants are intended to foster innovation while cultivating exciting new collaborations among students,” Sarraf said. “The projects may also serve as pilot programs that, if successful, could become part of the curriculum in the future.”

Mountain View High grant recipients and projects

• Emily Peña: Playwrights in Residence through TheatreWorks for a Young Playwrights Project course.

• Ly Nguyen and Phil Wiechec: Purchase software license to support building and programming an autonomous robot.

Los Altos High grant recipients and projects

• Meghan Strazicich: Purchase materials for a toxicity study on lead compounds and reagents needed for a scientific experiment study of bee diversity on Santa Rosa Island in collaboration with Cal State Channel Islands.